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Monthly Archives: October 2015

For teens, one of the most anticipated rites of passage is getting a driver’s license. Many teens and parents alike are often shocked by the high price of insuring those teens to drive family vehicles. By emphasizing road safety, thus limiting Reno automobile accidents caused by teens, new drivers and their parents can bring down the price of the insurance and save lives! Teenage drivers cause a significant amount of Washoe County car crashes and accidents are the leading killer of teenagers. Across the nation, in 2013, teenage drivers were involved in over 2600 deadly automobile accidents. In the Silver State, over four years, teenagers were responsible for sending over 2200 people to the emergency room.

Cell phone use while driving is suspected of being one of the leading factors in teenage vehicle collisions in Northern Nevada. Since texting and using a mobile while behind the wheel is more common with teenagers than with other drivers, the penalties for using a cell phone while behind the wheel are significant. If your teen is given a citation for texting while driving, his or her insurance premium can rise significantly – since the Silver State enables insurance company to base premiums on citations for mobile use.

By being cautious and working to not be involved in an accident, teens can bring down their insurance premiums. If a student is getting good grades in school, often automobile insurance companies will give the family a discount on the teen’s premium. A teen with good grades has shown the capacity to concentrate while in class and insurance companies believe that capacity will translate to the ability to concentrate behind the wheel. Another way to reduce the insurance premium associated with your teen is to have them take a safe driving course. The certification for this course can result in a discounted insurance premium. Using a mobile phone while behind the wheel of your car is illegal and has been since January 1, 2012. For the first offense of using a cell phone while driving, expect to pay a fine of $50. The 2nd offense is $250 (and all subsequent citations for using a cell phone while driving). If you are in a construction zone while you are using your cell phone, your fine will be doubled. First offenses for cell phone use while driving are not marked as moving violations, however, all additional offenses are considered moving violations and those tickets will cause four points on your license.

Sparks police are searching for a car and driver that were involved in a Washoe County automobile accident. The accident happened just on the border of Reno and Sparks. The Sparks car crash killed a man and has been ruled authorities are ruling the accident a hit and run. Police found the man at the intersection of Kietzke Ln and Victorian Ave. The man who died in the accident, a Sparks resident who was aged 55, was found dead on the road just after 3:00 a.m. At first, the Sparks man’s name was not released but it wasl be once the man’s family were informed of his death. Police are saying that the man’s name was Eugene Shorthorn. Mr. Shorthorn was said to be a homeless person who was living in the area of the accident. When found by police, who were responding to a report of the man being down in the road, the Spark Resident had significant injuries to his head and torso. It is being assumed that the man who died was walking in the bike lane at the time of the accident. The investigation by Sparks police will determine if drugs, alcohol or other factors will be the reasons for the man’s death. Businesses in the vicinity of the crash have been canvassed for security camera footage and while Mr. Shorthorn’s death was not caught on camera, three vehicles were in the vicinity at the time of the accident. Three cars are being sought – a semi, a passenger car with a light color paint job and a pickup truck with a light color paint job. Hit and run accidents in Northern Nevada vehicle collisions now come with the highest penalties in the United States. The new hit and run laws, passed in the last legislative session, came into effect on the first day of October. Now, when a driver leaves the scene of an accident where someone is injured they face up to 20 years in jail. The hit and run driver who causes an injury also is not eligible to be given probation for his sentence. Drivers are being informed of the new law by a new campaign from the Nevada department of transportation. The new public service announcements will implore drivers to call 911 and helping the injured person instead of fleeing. Nevada’s previous hit and run statute essentially incentivized drivers involved in an injury accident, who were intoxicated, to flee the scene, sober up and turn themselves into police. Now there is no incentive as the hit and run penalty and the penalty for injuring or killing someone while driving while intoxcated are the same.

A man died on Sunday September 20th in a Reno commercial vehicle accident when his truck rolled over and a passenger was thrown from the vehicle. The accident happened on Highway 80 near mile 41. An investigation into the crash indiciates that the Washoe County Box trailer crash occurred when the truck was going eastward on I-80. The truck was travelling in the slow lane. At some point, the truck began drifting onto the right shoulder. As the driver tried to regain control of the truck, the driver overcorrected and the truck then spun wildly in the left direction. The truck and the trailer it was towing landed on its passenger side and blocked both lanes of eastward travel. A passenger who was sleeping at the time of the accident was thrown and passed away at the accident scene. The driver of the truck was rushed to a Reno hospital for treatment of his injuries. Those injuries are not expected to threaten the life of the driver.

In addition to the damage to the truck, the trailer and the death of the passenger, guardrails on each side of the highway were also damaged. The guardrails were so damaged that after the accident they were blocking part of the road. The trailer being towed by the truck also spilled its load on the highway. There are no reports as to what the truck was carrying at the time of the crash. Cleaning up the aftermath of the accident included moving the truck back onto it’s wheels, cleaning up the cargo that had spilled on the highway and repairing the guardrails that were damaged in the accident.

NV-attorney is the Northern Nevada arm of the Las Vegas family-owned personal injury law firm, Benson and Bingham. We have an expert team of Nevada licensed lawyers that have significant experience with Northern Nevada semi truck collisions, Reno wrongful death accidents and even Washoe County casino injuries. If you are hurt through no fault of your own or had a family member pass away in an accident that was not his or her fault, contact Benson and Bingham today for a free legal consultation. We can help you or surviving family members receive money for hospital bills, lost work, pain and suffering and even car repair. Our firm even offers everyone we represent our happiness guarantee. Our happiness guarantee is exclusive and enables those we represent, if they are unhappy with their final invoice, to ask us to reformulate the bill and develop a fee structure that they approve of.

The Police Department of Reno released information on a non-guilty plea by a Reno man who killed two young children. The man accused in the accident Sheldon Berg, 55, is accused of vehicular manslaughter (two counts). Mr. Berg issued his plea on Thursday, October 1st. Mr. Berg was not held on bail and the next time he will be seen is court is still yet to be determined. Even though Mr. Berg was released on self recognizance, the 66-year old Reno resident with a history of losing his license will not be allowed to drive until his trial for the South Reno automobile accident.

In late June this year, Mr. Berg is accused of crashing into a house on Princess Ave. at Vassar St. in Reno. When he crashed into the house on a sunny Monday afternoon, two very young kids died. Mr. Berg was behind the wheel of a Subaru heading westerly on Brentwood Ave when he didn’t stop for a stop sign and crashed into the house. In the home when the crash occurred was a young mother and her son, daughter and niece. The daughter, 4, and the son, 2, were killed in the Washoe County car crash. Mr. Berg may have suffered some type of attack of a medical nature at the time of the accident. Police investigators have uncovered another crash involving Mr. Berg from early 2013 that was the result of a medical incident. The type of medical incident or attack is unknown at this time. A search of Mr. Berg’s records with the Nevada vehicle registration department uncovered that the license for Mr. Berg had been suspended since 2002 six times. None of the license suspensions were for misdemeanor or felony arrests or convictions or for Northern Nevada vehicle collisions. Mr. Berg voluntarily handed over his license three times, once in 2002, once in 2004 and once in 2007. In 2010 and again in 2011, Mr. Berg refused to comply with recommended restrictions on his license, which resulted in those two suspensions. In 2013, Mr. Berg declined to be examined by the motor vehicle department, which resulted in yet another suspension. Mr. Berg was granted a new license after each suspension legally by following processes outlined by Nevada state law and motor vehicle regulations. Mr. Berg’s current driving license was given to him in March 2015. Reno police have stated that when someone has an automobile accident because of a medical reason, for this person’s license to be reinstated, he must be medically evaluated.